OK, I'll admit it, I've strayed a bit from my Summer Reading List and I started the Twilight series. And I love them! But as a Christian, of course, I have to examine why I love them, and whether that's even OK. So here are my thoughts on the books so far, mostly off the top of my head even now as I sit down and write.*
First of all, like I said, I am enjoying them so much. In fact, they are bringing out the possessive/obsessive side in me, that only certain books/movies/tv shows do bring out. So much so that I have to take a several week break between each book because otherwise all my free time goes to reading, and all my non-free time goes to thinking (i.e. obsessing) about the story and the characters. And that I do not think is healthy. But like I said, that is not exclusive to the Twilight books, and therefore not an inherent problem with the series.

Another possible problem I have with them is related, in that I get so swept up, I begin to see my own life as boring and mundane. But again, this is a problem with being a hopeless romantic, and not a problem with these particular books.

My mom read the first book as well, and I think she actually did enjoy the story, though she didn't finish the whole series. Her problem with the whole vampire/werewolf story lines is that it is focusing too much on the "darkness", and not on the "light". It makes women, and young girls in particular (the intended audience), yearn for something dark, perhaps even evil; something that is clearly not good for them. I can see this point as well, and is probably why I would not let my young teenage daughter read them. The Bible is very clear about that which we should allow our minds to rest. Perhaps that's why I give myself a break in between them, because I do get so obsess-y about them, and I don't want my mind to linger there too long.

I'm sure there is a whole long list of other reasons why many Christians don't care for these books and think they shouldn't be read, but for the most part, I've touched on the ones that are the most important to me. That being said, I don't think any of these reasons is enough to keep me from finishing books three and four! And by the way, I'm Team Jacob.

*This is completely off the top of my head because I just realized it was an hour before my bedtime on November 30, and I hadn't written anything this month! So I do apologize for the unthought-out nature of this post! Also, the title of this post is in reference to the Justin Long quote on Twilight.